Flexible Work

The recent rise of flexibility in working patterns has been fuelled by a demand from both workers and employers.

And, labour market flexibility is as much about workers’ ability to better balance work and home life as it is about employers’ desire to re-organise employees' work to better suit current business needs.

Reports in Changing Times News have shown over half the workforce believe they suffer ill-health resulting from a work-life imbalance, workers with greater job flexibility report higher job satisfaction and 8 in 10 employers believe this flexibility has a positive effect on job retention.

Employment relationships of the future are expected to be the same as now, between employers and employees, consequently, negotiating flexible working patterns are a key collective bargaining issue for trade unions.

Employees should have an individual and collective voice in decisions about working time. ‘Atypical’ contracts, such as fixed-term working or homeworking should be genuine choices, not forced on individuals without any labour market power who cannot get a job with a ‘standard’ contract.

Flexibility should not be defined on employers’ terms. Employees’ patterns of work shouldn’t be shifted frequently, without notice, or without adequate compensation, and work should fit with employees’ needs as well as business needs.

There are many different ways to work flexibly:

• Part-time working (workSMART)
• Flexitime
• Staggered hours
• Compressed hours
• Job sharing
• Shift working/shift swapping (workSMART)
• Self rostering
• Time off in lieu (TOIL)
• Term-time working
• Annual Hours/Annualised hours
• Time accounts
• V-time working
• Zero hours contracts (workSMART)
• Homeworking/teleworking (workSMART)
• Sabbatical/career break
• Maternity pay and leave (workSMART)
• Parental and paternity leave (workSMART)
• Slivers of time

Changing Times flexible working resources

See also Changing Times research and trends